Next season championships?

[DonBilly]

The Top14 will start 6 days after the RWC final. This is going to be a crazy season with players that will continuously train and play from mid July to mid June.

What about the GP and the ML?

 

[Wellycane]

Yeah that is crazy. Unusual too, especially to us kiwis I mean the RWC is the last competition of the year on our schedule. When did this Top 14 competition start? did it happen in 2003?

 

[DonBilly]

Yeah that is crazy. Unusual too, especially to us kiwis I mean the RWC is the last competition of the year on our schedule. When did this Top 14 competition start? did it happen in 2003?
[/b]

It started after the RWC but at that time it was Top16 with two pools of 8 teams, followed by kind of round-robin with the top 8 teams, semi-final and final. The championship was not interrupted during the 6N although the players called by the Unions were released.

 

[Wellycane]

I think the Top 14 schedule has got to be reconsidered and be put at more suitable area on the calender. It should be established not in just World Cup year but every year. Perhaps it could be at the same time as the Super 14 and does the season really matter? Rugby is a winter sport but SANZAR seems not to worry about that like this year where it started earlier than usual in February...our (NZ) summer time and as a result, no complaints whatsoever.

 

[back row youth]

cant see it being a problem as rwc is at end of summer for us

 

[DonBilly]

cant see it being a problem as rwc is at end of summer for us
[/b]

Well maybe the point is the summer season itself, it is quite hot in the South of France where most of the Rugby clubs are located. Even if some of the matchs can be played in the evening you cannot think about regularly training the teams in the fresh hours of the night... Usually in France Rugby is played in the afternoon and Football in the evening, this avoid collisions in the broadcasters schedule and as you know they are the real funders of the professional sport.

 

[SmokeyMonkey]

Well luckily the ML will be 2 games shorter due to the Borders disbanding. Like last time (2003) they will probably keep the fixtures the same and the regions will simply have to do without the international players for the 5 weeks or so.

 

[DonBilly]

Well luckily the ML will be 2 games shorter due to the Borders disbanding. Like last time (2003) they will probably keep the fixtures the same and the regions will simply have to do without the international players for the 5 weeks or so.
[/b]

Regarding the Top14 it was in the requirements from the IRB that no domestic competition in th hosting nation should interfer with the RWC... A couple of month ago, theuy looked like they realized what constraint this puts on the French Rugby season and allowed the Top14 sooner and to overlap with the RWC SF. The Top14 broacaster, i.e. Canal+ made then clear that they had already organized their own schedule and that this was too late to change it and that the Top14 shall then proceed as planed...

I don't know if what was required to the LNR regarding the Top14 applies also to the SRU and WRU for the ML since these Unions will also host some matchs.